


A most honorable tradition

by keita52



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Holidays, Team as Family, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 21:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17251520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keita52/pseuds/keita52
Summary: Ryder has decided to celebrate midwinter with traditions from each of the species represented onboard the Tempest.





	A most honorable tradition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MossyBallerina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MossyBallerina/gifts).



Holidays were a tricky thing to manage amongst the Initiative. No two species celebrated the same range of holidays, and even within species, different sects celebrated different dates. But there were some holidays that were close to universal, even if the traditions and intensity of said holidays varied quite a bit.

Midwinter was one of them. All of the Initiative species had some kind of tradition to mark the darkest day of the year, the point where the planet was farthest away from the sun or suns that gave it life. The decision about what “Midwinter” should look like in Andromeda was, in fact, one of those things that had been hashed out in the planning for the Initiative. Greta Ryder found herself incredibly grateful for that, as the Midwinter celebrations kicked into high gear. Otherwise, that would have been just one of many (seemingly) pointless things she was required to weigh in on, as Pathfinder.

The Tempest had landed on Voeld at the beginning of Midwinter, in no small part because Liam insisted it wasn’t Christmas -- er, _Midwinter_ \-- without snow. Jaal grumbled, but when no one else put up too much of a fuss, the grumbles subsided. Ryder was grateful for that. Her perfectionist streak was trying to convince her that she had to make a special effort for this, the first Midwinter for the Tempest; that if everything wasn’t done _just so_ all of the built-up camaraderie would somehow fizzle and die away.

That was stupid, and she knew it, even without Peebee reminding her of it whenever worry lines started to build up on her face. Peebee’s attitude was one of the only things keeping Ryder sane during this whole mad planning process. There really hadn’t been a need to set aside a separate day for krogan traditions, for example, since everything Drack had come up with had involved copious amounts of ryncol.

The turian day, at least, had been far more interesting. Vetra had lead them all in telling tales of their distant kin, whether actual or imagined. No one really bought Liam’s insistence that Arthur Conan Doyle was some kind of distant cousin of his, but his conducting them all through an amalgamation of several Sherlock Holmes stories had been entertaining nonetheless.

Kallo’s insistence that all good salarian traditions included scientific experiments somehow evolved into a cooking contest with himself and Suvi as co-judges. Drack was disqualified when it turned out that his cake had actually been made by Kesh, which left Lexi as the winner. She had chosen to follow that up with a day of meditation and self-care, which somehow also included calisthenics to work off the extra calories from the day before.

And tomorrow would be the human day, which Ryder had taken upon herself despite also being the overall organizer. She’d changed her plans twice already, and was looking down at her notes and wondering if she had enough time to come up with something new.

The door to her cabin opened, and a moment later Ryder felt hands come to rest on her shoulders. “Will you quit that?” Peebee demanded, coming around to snatch up the datapad from Ryder’s desk. “You’re _fussing_. Again. What did I tell you about fussing?”

“That it was a waste of time and energy and I shouldn’t do it?” Ryder had to smile despite herself. Peebee was the only person who could interrupt and scold her without Ryder feeling resentful and annoyed afterwards. She reached her head up to steal a kiss from Peebee’s lips, then tried to snatch her datapad back.

“Ah ah ah.” Peebee stepped away, wagging her finger and grinning impishly. “Whatever you’ve got there is _fine_ , Greta. You should’ve let Cora handle this.”

“She’d have made it too formal,” Ryder protested.

“Suvi.”

“A repeat of the cooking competition, only with Andromeda native species, and we’d all have gotten sick.”

“Fine, fine,” Peebee said, throwing her hands in the air. Still holding the datapad, damn her. “You’re the only one that can do it right.”

“I’m so glad you finally acknowledged that.” Ryder closed the distance and kissed her again, this time without trying to steal the datapad.

“You’re still not allowed to fuss over it anymore,” Peebee said when they finally broke apart for air.

“I promise not to fuss over it anymore.” Ryder resisted the impish urge to cross her fingers behind her back. Peebee brought out that side of her, a joyful and playful side that she had thought was gone after losing both of her parents and almost losing her twin brother Niels.

“Faaan- _tastic._ ” Peebee put the datapad down on Ryder’s desk, watching Ryder carefully the whole time, then resumed kissing her.

* * *

Ryder woke before Peebee did, grabbing the datapad and bringing up her plans for the day. This wasn’t _fussing_ , it was just double-checking. Yule Log and a bonfire, check. A culturally representative selection of carols, check. A hearty meal featuring the best vat-grown beef Andromeda had to offer.

Peebee snored loudly. Ryder looked over, afraid that she was going to wake up and deliver another scolding, but she just shifted under the blankets and then went still again.

A thought occurred to her, all of a sudden, and she felt her face breaking into a massive smile. It looked as though she’d be changing her plans again, but she had the sneaking suspicion that Peebee would approve of this change.

* * *

The Tempest crew gathered at the edge of the ramp -- everyone, including Kallo, Suvi, and Gil. Ryder had told them all to dress for an outdoor excursion, causing no shortage of raised eyebrows and muttered questions of “What’s she up to this time?”

“I thought long and hard about the activities most representative of human midwinter traditions,” Ryder said when they’d all assembled. “About the things that I remember the most clearly from my childhood, whenever we were planet-side. And there was one thing that stuck out more than the others, that I thought was well worth sharing.”

She’d been holding both hands behind her back, and now she brought them forward. Each contained a snowball. She lobbed the first at Liam, and the second towards Peebee with a mischievous wink. “Free-for-all snowball fight!”

Peebee laughed heartily and bent to scoop up a handful of snow and throw it back at Ryder, who ducked it -- but not the follow-up missile that came from _Cora,_ of all people.

The air was soon filled with flying snow, shouts, laughter, and the sense that a new Midwinter tradition had been founded for the crew of the Tempest.


End file.
